The Rockets continued their five-out position. Facing Sefolosha, Harden crotched and then changed direction with a cross step, started with a frog step, and broke through from the left. Sefolosha did not lose his position and covered Harden with his whole body.
But Harden still chose to take three steps, with his right arm against Sefolosha. Before shooting, he quickly rolled Sefolosha's arm into his cylinder and quickly completed the shooting action. The basketball came out of the frame, but the referee whistled. ring.
Defensive foul.
"He was the one who grabbed me!"
Sefolosha complained to the referee.
"As the art of war goes, this trick is called making something out of nothing. Young man, please learn a little bit."
Harden half covered his mouth and said to Sefolosha.
In fact, even if he didn't cover it, the referee couldn't tell what he was saying from the shape of his mouth because of his big beard.
"Imitate you, you big bastard, you are making something out of nothing. You are just trying to fool around with porcelain."
Sefolosha looked disdainful. At the critical moment of the game, the desire to win naturally took over. Who said there is no competition among friends on the basketball court? Competition among friends is often more intense.
Harden didn't take it seriously, walked to the free throw line, and made two free throws.
106:100.
Thunder offense.
Westbrook dribbled to the frontcourt, took the initiative to hand the ball to Durant, and ran away to take away the defender.
"Schoolbag Du made a shot on the last attack, and his hand feels just right at this time. No matter if he makes the shot or not, the coach will not scold me."
Westbrook thought to himself.
Durant had the ball in his hand, and Ariza defended even tighter, showing the suddenness of the defense.
Durant didn't hesitate when he saw this, and took a big step to pass Ariza. Unexpectedly, Butler was super fast in assisting defense. His body was upright and his feet were planted, blocking his path.
The two of them bumped into each other and fell to the ground together.
"Beep!"
Offensive foul.
Butler clenched his fists and waved hard.
"Yes!"
Butler's positivity and intelligence helped the Rockets win the ball.
Harden continued to advance slowly, with 3 minutes left in the game. Time is now their good friend.
The rest of the Rockets cleared one side, creating a one-on-one opportunity for Harden on the weak side.
The attack time ran out until there were 10 seconds left before Harden started.
Seeing that Sefolosha continued to block his left hand, Harden dribbled the ball under his hips and changed direction to break through from the right. Ibaka returned from the strong side to help defend.
Jeremy Lin, Parsons and Ariza quickly moved toward the weak side with three-pointers, leaving Butler alone in the bottom corner.
Harden passed the ball without looking at anyone, and used a very subtle passing technique to find Butler who was left open in the bottom corner.
Butler catches the ball, takes off, and shoots with great rhythm. After shooting, he turns around confidently.
"Uh-huh!"
The basketball hit the net.
109:100.
"Damn it, he tricked me."
said a young fan on the sidelines.
"Good ball, the Rockets' tactics are simple and efficient, and they do not require complicated tactical movement and ball transmission at critical moments.
The more passes there are, the greater the potential for turnovers, and McHale is well aware of this.
Give the ball to Harden, the team's strongest point, one-on-one, and let him decide whether to shoot a three-pointer, a mid-range shot, a breakaway floater, a layup, or a breakout to find an open teammate.
Harden has too many choices. The most important thing is that every offense has a high degree of certainty. "
Durant took the ball by himself this time. Time waits for no one. The team is now 9 points behind. This attack must be scored, and the sooner the better.
Facing Ariza's defense, Durant first made a hesitant step under his crotch, then suddenly kicked off the ground and took a big step to the left.
Ariza retreated hurriedly, but Durant did not choose to break through. Instead, he quickly changed direction and pulled back, returned to the three-point line, and jumped to shoot.
The basketball drew a wonderful arc and spun into the basket.
109:103.
Brooks nodded with satisfaction. At this moment, he felt the joy of having Durant and Westbrook. In less than three minutes, the team fell behind by 9 points, and he could still trust the players to solve the problem.
"Durant is so awesome. In fact, many outside players in the league can do these moves, but when it comes to doing them, few can do it as dramatically as Durant. Durant combines his physical talents and skills It comes together perfectly.”
Su Kui admired.
The Rockets attacked, Harden followed suit, broke through to attract the defense, and found Butler with the ball. However, this time Westbrook's defensive rotation was faster. Butler saw Westbrook pounce on him and did not choose to force a shot. He passed one more pass to the 45. Jeremy Lin.
Jeremy Lin received the ball without hesitation and shot a three-pointer.
"Bang!"
The ballistic trajectory is very positive, but the force is small, and the basketball hits the front edge and pops out.
"Jeremy Lin made an open three-pointer. Oh, what a pity. This may also have something to do with the fact that he hasn't touched the ball much in the past few minutes. After all, he is not a pure shooter. He still needs to practice more fixed-point three-pointers."
Yang Jian explained.
Westbrook accurately judged the ball's landing point, collected the rebound and quickly converted.
"Westbrook speeded up, changed direction, passed Jeremy Lin, and succeeded in a counterattack and dunk! At this time, he can also turbocharge and accelerate like crazy. He is indeed a turtle!"
Yang Jian's tone was filled with admiration.
109:105, in less than a minute, the Thunder chased 5 points in a row through the personal abilities of both players. With two minutes left in the game, the game became suspense again.
McHale couldn't sit still and called a timeout to make arrangements.
Xu Xin was also helpless in the stands. In the years before Durant left the Warriors, the Thunder management hardly needed to do anything. Just relying on the basics of Dewey, they could compete with any team in the Western Conference. wrist.
If Harden doesn't leave, and it doesn't matter whether he can win against the Heat, having no opponents in the West is really not bragging.
After the timeout, the Thunder made substitution adjustments and replaced Perkins.
Perkins has not helped the team's offense and defense in the past few minutes. The Rockets' five small players have opened up space, forcing him to stay away from the penalty area, further reducing his role.
The offensive end is basically handled by the second young master, and he has little role.
Coach Brooks simply replaced him. As for the candidate, he was wandering between Reggie Jackson and Kevin Martin. After thinking about it, he decided to use Reggie as a safer choice.
Reggie's defense is better than Martin's, and Martin's touch is not very good tonight. In addition, his defense is getting poked by thousands of people, so he should stay on the bench and cheer for his teammates to watch the game.
Harden organized the offense, and Durant stepped in early to force Harden to play the ball.
This is the gift Brooks prepared for Harden during the timeout just now.
Harden found the open Ariza, but the Thunder's defensive rotation was in place. The Rockets passed the ball several times and failed to find an open opportunity. With 2 seconds left in the attack time, Parsons made a three-pointer.
Not surprisingly, the attack ended in blacksmithing.
Ibaka collected the rebound and was about to pass the ball when a figure rushed out from the side and knocked the basketball out of his hand, causing the duck to fly away.
